Governor Sophon announced the news at a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday (Nov 12) joined by Pinsak Suraswadi, Director-General of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR).
“The DMCR has marked out the area where the dugongs live and issued an announcement via the Phuket offices of the Marine Department, the Department of Fisheries and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) to inform the public, especially fishermen and business operators,” Governor Sophon explained.
“Whether they operate speedboats or jet-skis, they need to know in which areas must be used with special caution, especially fishermen, so they know which areas are prohibited from setting nets in order to prevent dugongs from getting caught and dying
“This requires cooperation from all coastal fishermen, people living along the coast and the general public in order to help take care of and conserve the family of dugongs,” he added.
A LINE group called ‘Rak Dugong Phuket’ has been set up so people can communicate together to know more about the dugongs and what action is being taken to preserve their safety, Governor Sophon noted.
“The DMCR itself will start planting seagrass and finding other types of vegetation that can be used as substitutes, which is currently being tested and has yielded quite a bit of results,” Governor Sophon said.
“In the future, there will be a pen built in the sea to take care of sick animals so they can be kept in a restricted area while they are being taken care of,” he added.
“Therefore, I would like to ask the public to help keep an eye out [for dugongs in the area], especially fishermen as well as business operators who conduct various activities in the sea.
“Let’s help take care of and conserve our dugongs,” Governor Sophon said.
There are currently 30 dugongs that have migrated into Phuket waters, Governor Sophon confirmed.
“Right now, we are going to name 30 of them. We have to name them all and try to look at their physical characteristics. Experts may need to know the physical characteristics and give each one a name so that we know their location,” he added.
“I think one indicator is that the dugongs are here, which means that our area is still fertile. Due to climate change, seagrass in many provinces, mostly in Trang Province, has died and rotted.
“I have just seen some of the dugongs and some of them are so thin that I could see their spines. They were very thin. This means they have not eaten for a long time and alternative food is hard to find.
“Last year, the province [meaning ‘Phuket’] had the opportunity to plant sea grass in this plot of forest. The results were good on this side. So I talked with the director-general of the DMCR that we should plant more. We may have to plant the seedlings first and then plant them in the sea to provide food,” Governor Sophon explained.
DMCR Director-General Pinsak said that the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment has ordered the DMCR to work with the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) to come down to Phuket and work with local officials to help manage the dugong issue, which he said was “currently a crisis for dugongs in Thailand, which are protected animals”.
“Quite a lot have died, especially this year, 33 of them. Therefore, it is necessary to work together to expedite the protection of the dugong herd and to have appropriate food for them, especially the seagrass problem.
“Today, the DMCR, the MNRE and the provincial governor have an idea to use the Rawai model that the province has done quite successfully, which has declared the area as protected and reduce threats to dugongs that migrate in,” Mr Pinsak said.
“This is whether it is about boats, making boundaries, promoting the issue to the public and reducing threats from fishing, and to expand the area in Pa Khlok, which is a new area where there are more than 20-30 dugongs,” he continued.
“In particular, the province places importance on the cooperation of the people who have set up a special LINE group to work on this issue,” he said.
“In terms of the reduced food supply, we have tried to find vegetables or plants to supplement the dugongs’ diet. We have had some success because the dugongs have come to eat supplementary food, such as morning glory or Chinese kale.
“However, there is still a problem with other animals competing for the dugongs’ food. We are trying to research which ones are the most suitable and will expand this idea to other places where the dugongs are starving and have no food to eat,” he added.
“It has been predicted that in about four to five months that Trang and Krabi provinces will have insufficient food sources for dugongs to survive. The target areas where the dugongs will come are Phuket and Phang Nga,” Mr Pinsak said.
“We are closely monitoring where they go and how many there are. In addition, we are also publicising to the local communities to let them know that the dugongs will come, which is a close collaboration between the central government and local agencies,’ he concluded.